


Family Holiday. With a Twist.

by sanctum_c



Series: Some Kinda Lady 2016 [6]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Cats, F/M, Wutai (Compilation of FFVII), family holiday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:59:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27375334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c
Summary: The Wallace Family are taking a holiday in Wutai and Yuffie is providing accommodation.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Barret Wallace
Series: Some Kinda Lady 2016 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1999702





	Family Holiday. With a Twist.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt "Holidays and birthdays"

A lack of landing areas within Wutai proper meant Cid resorted to a small patch of grassland not too far from the outskirts of the capital to drop Barret, Tifa and Marlene off. The pilot grumbled at them when he picked them up, while they were in the air and as they came into land. He did at least wish them a good time and started speculating about more airships on regular flight-paths. Cid was probably already grumbling again by the time the Highwind rose into the air. But now they were here, Tifa forgot about him in a moment. As open as the interior of the airship was, it was still nice to be on solid ground again, and the family had packed light enough to carry their luggage the short distance to the city.

Marlene stared around in wonderment the entire time; she loved the Wutai quarter in Kalm, but the city itself was a whole other experience. Tifa smiled and linked arms with Barret as they made their way through the streets, Marlene gawping and pointing at familiar places from photos and even a few glyphs she recognised. Stories of her family's previous trips to Wutai were her absolute favourite and it had always been a notion to come back here at some point. The city had grown since Avalanche's brief stop-over some years previous; freedom from all of Shinra's restrictions certainly helped. But so much was still the same and it remained hard to forget the place's layout after spending quite so much time charging up and down the streets in pursuit of a certain ninja. Back then it would have seemed absurd for them to go and visit that same ninja as part of a cheap holiday, nor speculate on who she would be romantically linked with in later years. And yet here they were.

"Should be just down here," Tifa said. Not far from the palace; Cloud and Yuffie's Cat Sanctuary - formerly the cat house. Not hard to find or easy to miss. Cats lazed on the roof, in the windows and in sunlit patches along the street. And of course there was the sign - complete with cartoon renderings of both a slightly bemused looking Cloud and an ecstatic Yuffie. This was becoming surreal.

"Spike did say that the cats weren't allowed in the bedrooms right?" Barret asked as he eyed the lazing moggies as Tifa knocked on the door.

"It'd be much cuter to have the cats sleep on the bed!" Marlene said as she waved at the nearest cat who studied at her with a mixture of boredom and disdain for a moment before looking away.

"One maybe," Barret murmured. "This many and you run the risk of being squashed."

"Hush. Cloud said they kept the cats downstairs at night," Tifa said hoping that really was true. She smiled as the door opened; Yuffie beamed at them, tiny kittens plaintively mewing from pockets in the apron she wore.

"Kitties!" Marlene cried and started petting the bundles of fluff.

"Hi guys," Yuffie said, other cats pushing past her legs and onto the street. "Glad you could make it."

"Hi Yuffie," Tifa said. "You... you weren't kidding about the cats were you?"

"What did I say?" Yuffie replied absently stroking a white tortoiseshell perched beside the door.

"I believe your words were 'Cloud and I started a cat sanctuary in Wutai. Come and visit if you want. We can put you up for a week or so.' Something like that," Tifa replied noticing even more cats deeper inside the house.

Yuffie shrugged. "We like looking after cats. Anyway! Where are my manners? You must be tired. Come in, come in! Just try and avoid treading on anyone." She retreated from the door and Marlene tip-toed after her. Tifa kept a careful eye on her feet as she stepped over the abundant number of felines.

The house was less cluttered with Yuffie's pets than had seemed from the outside - and the air thankfully smelt fresh. Last second doubts outside included a house reeking with the distinctive odour of cat urine - thankfully absent here. Yuffie ushered a few larger kittens ahead of her, and placing the ones in her apron on the floor. They mewed up at her and she mewed back, a faint smile on her face as they waddled closer to Marlene and rubbed against her ankles. Marlene would be asking if they could take one back at this rate - an outcome more or less certain ever since they decided on the destination after the couple's offer. Barret was pretty adamant they would only take one, but that would likely be negotiable.

"You can dump your stuff upstairs- Ah." Yuffie paused with her hand on a door. "Just a second." She rummaged in her pocket for something and threw it down the hall. With a thunder of feet every cat in the hall charged after the colourful bouncing object. "Come on, while they're distracted." Yuffie hauled the door open and directed them into the stairwell.

"Do we have to do that every-time we want to come up here?" Barret asked as he closed the door behind them.

"Nah," Yuffie replied. "We're going to section them off for a bit while you're here. Just wanted them to have a bit more freedom first."

"Yuffie," Tifa said stopping on the stairs. "You know we can find a hotel? We don't really want to make things complicated or put you out. If you-"

Yuffie shook her head. "I'm not listening. Seriously Teef, it's fine. We clear the cats out of some rooms all the time; you think we really live like this with cats everywhere?"

"Well..." Barret murmured. Tifa elbowed him in the ribs.

"We don't," Yuffie said not turning around as she climbed the stairs. "While we are running a cat sanctuary, we are still in charge of them." She glanced back and smirked. "Plus if we let them go where they want, they all tend to lie on Cloud while he's asleep. Can't have him suffocating.... again." She sighed. "He's needed rescuing more than once."

Tifa tried to suppress her laughter at the mental image. A strange, and somewhat unique holiday in a house of cats - sorry - a cat sanctuary. Maybe it would be better to do the more traditional thing in future and pay out for the Gold Saucer. But then Marlene seemed happy enough though now anxious to get back to the cats on the ground floor. And Barret was here. And their friends. Avalanche never was terribly traditional and Wutai looked as lovely as her memories. They would be fine together.


End file.
